Introducing: The Adventure Better Care Package

Every trip I take, I come home having bought too much of something. A tin of something from a market stall. A bottle I made a shopkeeper promise to wrap extra well because it had a very long flight ahead of it. A bag of spices I did not declare at customs as thoroughly as I probably should have1.

For a while now, I’ve been quietly sending a version of this to a small group of people. From today, if you join as a Founder here on Substack, you’ll receive the Adventure Better Care Package, twice a year, of things I’ve actually found while I was out in the world.

Send me a care package

What it actually is

Twice a year — once in the spring and fall — I put together a small package of things I picked up along the way. Not souvenir-shop stuff. Not something ordered in bulk and shipped to me to repackage. Things I found because I was standing in the actual place, usually because someone pointed me toward them, or because I got stubborn about tracking something down after one bite or one smell.

If you can’t come on a trip with me yet, it’s the next best thing.

💙 If a $40/month tier isn’t the right fit right now, no worries at all — this newsletter stays free either way, and reading along, tapping the heart, or sharing a post with a friend genuinely helps.

📦 If you want in, you can skip to signing up here.

What’s going out this round

Timila from the Lalitpur series, from Mayama Fragrances

Lalitpur is the old name for Patan—one of the three ancient cities of the Kathmandu Valley, and the same one I’ve been telling you to visit instead of just passing through Thamel2. Mayama Fragrances is a Nepal-based perfume house I first discovered at the local market, and this particular scent is named for the city itself.

Notes of coffee, vanilla, white florals, jasmine, cedar wood, and patchouli come together in a fragrance that's warm, soft, and subtly sweet. Designed, crafted and produced in Nepal.

I bought this first as a gift for a close friend, and now as one for you all.

Tinned fish, from Portugal

Handpicked from Conserveira de Lisboa, the oldest shop in the city to buy tinned fish. These beautiful offerings are works of art themselves. I wouldn’t blame you for keeping it on display, though I hope you’ll also crack it open, perhaps with a chilled glass of vinho verde at hand.

Maple candy, from Vermont

New England in the fall means maple syrup. These candies are the closest I can get to sending you a tree in a box. Sweet, earthy and absolutely addictive.

…Plus a gift from the most southern trading post in the world, Antarctica

For people who have been on this list since last year, I picked up gifts from the shop at Union Glacier in Antarctica. This is where I spent time nervously pacing before I began my expedition, and then celebrating in stunned wonderment when I’d finished.

Why a box instead of just selling merch

I’m not interested in running a subscription box company. I don’t want to source something wholesale and slap an Adventure Better sticker on it. The whole premise of the Adventure Better Club is that friends are the best souvenirs—and the next best thing to a friend is something a friend actually carried back for you, with a story attached to it.

If you already receive a care package via Patreon—no need to change a thing!

The details

• Join here on Substack as a Founding member.

• Two packages a year, shipped in the spring and fall3

• Each one built around wherever I’ve actually been, so no two boxes look the same

• Free shipping in the continental United States

If that sounds like your kind of souvenir, join here.

Get a care package